The Blackgate Asylum
The Blackgate Asylum, or Blackgate Institute for the Criminally Insane, is a psychiatric hospital that opened on January 12th of 1714 in the vicinity of Driftwood. Its specific location is undisclosed to the public and only personal and authorities possess the required information to reach the institution. However, rumors have it that people of Driftwood know very well how to get to Blackgate, since they can see from their islands the steam-powered ships full of patients and soldiers leaving the coast towards an island further into the Auroran Channel. History The hospital construction began in April 1711, when Dr. Henry Blackgate convinced the crown that perhaps some prisoners of the Ravenscar Keep prison weren’t in the right mental condition to understand their crimes. His theory was proved when a group of soldiers and him witnessed one of the prisoners successfully hacking off his left arm with a stolen kitchen knife because he believed Skorm was living in the limb. Further observation led to the conclusion that some of the criminals bought there were not only killers and rapists but mentally ill and funds were to be invested in finding a treatment to their condition. The construction of the imposing building was finished in December 1713 and the asylum received its first patients a month later. Since the establishment was built on a remote island, its design includes wells for potable water, a large cellar for products conservation and a small cemetery. The principal building can house up to 200 patients at the same time but it is known that never over 179 patients were counted at the same moment on the island. In 1734, after half a dozen of patients escaped during the night of July 27th and killed citizens, it was decided for public safety to brand numbers on the prisoners so they would be easier to retrace. Since this day, any prisoner sent on the island is given a number which becomes his name during his stay. Controversy of treatments Since the opening of the Blackgate Asylum, scientists, healers and multiple doctors have researched cures for the condition of their patients. They have built plenty of devices to take care of the madness and thought of hundreds of methods to heal the mind. Their various theories have been fully tested, again and again, mostly on patients who are unable to form an answer due to their condition. There is a controversy among the scientific community about the experiences conducted on the mentally ill since the methods used to this date have been pretty violent and haven’t shown any conclusive results. However, defenders of the methods claim that the results will only be shown after multiple treatments and various testing on different subjects. Laws have been suggested for the ethical treatments of Blackgate’s inmates but have been successively rejected because, as some have said it, “who really cares about the fate of insane criminals?” Trivia *Blackgate Asylum is based on the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum , its architecture, history and design have been heavily inspired by the Weston State hospital. *The front of Blackgate is not actually the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum but the Danvers State Hospital which principal building was more fitted to the island environment. *Just as Ravenscar Keep prison is Fable's version of Alcatraz, Blackgate Asylum is Fabled-Albion's own version of something ressembling Arkham Asylum.